After the kitchen, the nursery is usually my favourite room of a doll house and the one I find easiest to fill!
In my mind a nursery should be stuffed with toys, ooze cosy and fun and maybe look a little chaotic, as if it's inhabitants have just torn through the room on a sugar high leaving a trail of disorder behind them.
First up, a bit of show and tell.
My best mini find this year I think has been these guys.
They were displayed in sweetie jars in Wickle, a fab shop in Lewes.
A snip at 30p each, have a feeling I'll be going back for more! They lend themselves perfectly to marching across book shelves, mantel pieces or the floor. LOVE 'em.
A not so recent addition is this splendid looking lady, maybe my favourite mini of the whole house!
Got her about 8 years ago at a little teddy shop in Canterbury (now closed down) I'm afraid I can not remember who she's made by but I do know she cost more than the 30p spent on her zoo animal room mates! If you can identify her let me know!!
Right, without further ado, let's get to the tutorial.
I try to make my own mini's where possible and when they turn out well it's one of the single most satisfying bits of being a dolls house weirdo !
This pram was done a while back now, there's been a few variations since that have gone to friends or family, this one currently lives under the stairs of big house so it was nice to dust it off and take some pics for the blog.
You will need:
Plain metal pram ( the one pictured is Dolls House Emporium)
Silver enamel paint
Cream enamel paint
Small piece of thin, soft leather
Light weight canvas
Selection of trims and ribbons
Paintbrush
Tacky glue
To make:
Word of warning: Enamel paint can take a long time to dry, manufacturer's directions recommend leaving 6 hours between coats for best results. Also, bear in mind the shape of the pram makes it difficult to paint some areas while others are drying so you may want to do the painting in stages to avoid smudging as you go.
Apply a thin, even coat of the cream enamel paint to the whole of the outside of the pram. (You can leave the outer hood unpainted if you plan to cover it later.) Apply second and third coats as desired.
I used silver paint to pick out the wheel spokes. I left the handles black.
Once the paint has completely dried you can start decorating.
I used a scrap of soft, glove leather for the hood. Cut to size and attach to one side of the outer hood using tacky glue. You can use super glue but I found tacky glue gives more flexibility as you stretch the leather to fit the shape of the pram. For a neat finish I made tiny folds at the base of the hood and glued in place.
Cut 2 pieces of the canvas, 1 for each side of the pram.
Apply a small amount of the glue to the back side as of the panel and attach to the pram, repeat for the other side.
To trim I used co-ordinating lace and picot edging.
Apply the Picot edging all the way around the edges of the side panel.
Attach the lace to the hood edge, let it over hang slightly to create a frill.
Your pram is now finished!
You may wish to add bedding or a doll. For this one I added a little mattress very easily by cutting a piece of card to fit inside pram. Cover the card with some calico or plain cotton. Add a little stuffing for a comfort!
For an aged/ vintage look try staining the canvas with tea before applying it to the pram, or you may wish to leave out the canvas altogether and experiment with lovely glossy paint finishes instead.
Think my next one is going to be a Silver cross inspired Sapphire blue with white, will let you know how it goes!
Phew, well I hope that was interesting?
I'm off to bake Christmas cakes (real sized ones!).
Ta ta for now. x
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